Die for preparing pipe ends



A ril 2, 1935. T. F. BIRMINGHAM DIE FOR PREPARING PIPE ENDS OriginalFiled May 11, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN R THOMAS JRM/A/g/M ATTORNEYApril 1935- T. F. BIRMINGHAM 1,996,095

DIE FOR PREPARING PIPE ENDS Original Filed May 11, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Q/ ZCV ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 2, 1935 V l .D'IE FOR PREPARING" PIPEENDS. Thomas r f-Birmingham,filamhioiia; mares-f, signor to TheSuperhe'ater Company; New

r V -York, N.

'Original application "May 11, [1933, Serial 670,422. Divided andthisapplication January 3,1934; Serial No. 705,

017. I In Germany Sen- I'he" 'pres ent invention frelates to .art ofreturn bends and particul'arly. to that method of making "suchstructurespin which the return bendis shap'ed directly on the ends'ofthetwo pipes to be connected and is madeiof the material of. the pipestheinselves' The invendated i May8, 1934.-,,'Ihe inethod forming thesubject matter of said application l'isf al rather special one but hasin comn ion with the present one the fact that the pipes; are separatelyoper;

ted on and formed,- the 'rnechanism used also being somewhat similar. I4- v h I In both instances the pipesaaresuitably heated and then splita1ongla lineparallel to -the axis for 8.. Suitable distance inward" fromthe end,

' and the portions adjacentj to .the sl it are bent it iard until e b meap i a y ta en t i c n a fac h p -4 A pair of pipes so prepared is thenwelded together along the edgesof the pieces that have. beenbentoutwardly, subsequently to-which the structure isclosedat the end byany. suitable means. If the structure is to be used not as a return bendbut as' a bifurcated pipestructure, the end isnot entirely closed downbut is simply brought w d dt th q nd- In idePP i h ed es of 'ben outportions of one pipe are allowed to'abut directly against those ofthebent-out portions of down to acircular shape and athird pipe lengththe other pipe so.that theedgesreceive com:

plernentary, althoughj irregular, shapes. which mesh, closely and aresubsequently welded to- 'getheifl" In the present ,invention'the'edges'are p y made smooth by having'them abut against smooth walls so thatthese edges match without further preparation. I The present'case'is adivision of United States application' evonzz filedlon-May 11,-1933. Inthe parent casethe method is claimed, while in this case the claimsrelateto the dies'usedn 'I'he invntionis illustrated in the drawings-flled *with the" present specification. '.In these drawings 1 shows themale die or plunger and one half of the female die which areusedincarryingLmy invention into practice, the two.

bi iig shown t os t on ftheyioccupy, after t unserha p me its s r ke thP operated on also being shown in position infsecipn..- Figs; -2, 3 and4 are respectively sectional views on lines; 2 Z,=33, and I -410i. Fig.1.

Fig. 5 shows" inylongitudinal sectiontwopipe ends ;shaped by theoperation and; ready for connection. Fig. Gshows them connectedgand Fig.7;

shows a comp1eted retu1nbend. Fig. 8-shows the lunger[ofi-J-ie.v .1.rigs. 9,. 10 and l'lshow plungersof modified'forms and liigs. '12 and13- show end views of still further. modifications; Figs. 8 to l3 aremore or less diagrammatic;

yIhe 'halfdie, I has two semicircular grooves 2 2 .separatedby awall 3.These grooves exinner sideiintqthe flattened-areas 6, 8.; Theseflattened areasfextendto the opposite end of the die ll jI'hey arelimited on the; sides facing each other by. the;wall l which forms acontinuation of the wal1f::,3. but is .corresp ondinglylnarrower.

,I'heflotherhalfof the die.,(not illustrated) is symmetrical, with theone described and when the ,itwoare placed into theiposition they occupyduring the operation-ythe'ref,are formed in the assembled die twoopenings extending from end to end. These 'openings-arepircula'r at theone end and. have a; generally U-shaped cross-section at the other. end,with :a straight sidein each-{0f half of the straight sideappearing at,Tw la;

. '15 tend-inwardly from the end 4 of the die fora cer-,- .taindistanceand atthepoint 5 merge on the so" them-joining the endsofthelegs of: the.U; Half 1 of the .two U,S-'iS1ShOWIl in the half-die of Fig. 3,

":The plunger 8 isagenerallycomplementary to theinterior of thecompletedie I described, butissomewhat smaller and spaced from the wall excepton. the side facing the wall I whereit is substantially inHcontact-withthe Wall. The 11115 v gers 9v.-9: are. circular in cross-section neartheir tips-and substantially U-form in cross-section nearer theirroots',the latter shape being shown clearly in Fig.4. v v I The operation ofsucha die is as follows? The pipes are clamped in parallel-relation;with their ends alined; They are thenzsuitably heated-and placed in pne.half of .the female die, the other half -thenbeing putinto place bysuitable mechanism s rThe 'plunger 81then performs its stroke during''which the pipes will. besplit each along a lineparallel to its axis andthe two'portions ad-1 jacent to'the: slit infeach bentoutwardly. The

dimensions of the diesaresuch that the edges of thesplit; portionscomeintoforcible pontact with .theiaceof the wa11-;,1. {Ihisis .done inorderto leave the edges smooth, these edges; being left ragged byv thesplitting operation. In processes of this general typeasheretoforepracticedthe edges were made smooth by steps slower" andmore expensive than those herein disclosed.

- Thus; inmneprior processythe pipe was first sawed aiongaline parallelto the axisjior asuit v v v r ticing my invention without losingessence;

able'distance and the portions adjacent to the sawed slit were then bentoutward. My procein;

eliminates the neces ity of wm permqnl which is an important saving. umedges-were not made smoothby sawing thesliflthey .priorprocesses to, bef "smooth, which also, involved an extra operation 'andexpense. 'I'h'eadvantage of 'my process is that in a; single operation the pipes areshaped v 1 perfectly for the subsequentlweldmg tog'etherr They-come outfrom the operation describedin j eanbe doneby' otheropseansittle'sireriy J The resulting st sin l pipe the form illustrated in" Fig.5, the edgaii I being smooth andready for welding. ei d e re e b yeby'ifl t q a b fi .7 .i to A s v which ti 81. mm

tionin-'F'ig: .6., v 7

-11 intended for a-f return ben'dgthe' structure {ifs next closed bymethods into? the i shown'I-in Fig. 7. Asmentioned above; the'struc-,turemay be used tori'omring ai-pumemam u:

' lar element inwhieh casePinstead of entirely clos ing the end thedowniis'stopped atter the'end has been'giyie'n a circular 01- propersize and the necessary we'ided'to sueh circular end.

\ It is bvi usiy umecees ri te lorlgiythe pipes in af-sin'gle operationin a double diel" Z as 11iustre/ted.- '-'Ihe -two; might'- aepara'tely',thediescompridng only half has" beendescribed, 1, e.- only on a -,0neadvantage of pairingtheftlgee as edis tha'ta later-unmet; to f than bythe splitting ot' the lpipes and-bending i outwardly is balanoedout;addition time 'is saved by peflorming thedoubleopera tion outjoianysi'dethriists; B1 V l instead got performing the twofoperatlorissepearately'i .7 h :In' Figs. 8 toristheneiisfillmtmtewthe that the:grouping of -the be other than that describediigFig. 8 is meanttoilhistrabe more or lessfdiagrammatically thefpodtlm of the twofingered! theipiungerlnthe'torm :just described: ""T f fi a me aresplit. on the outerjsidesand flle u f jajacent tothe slitsYarebent 'I'heneeessary form for the pmnger isfllustreted in P18."

1 9; 7' 'It is thought unnocfl fi y b0 that term the femaie'die musttake, as-bhiswill be obvious.

ilt'is quite possible to perform the opraflnn on jmore than two pipesFly. 10' for example shows a 'gang i of tour-Mars with which four pipescould beoperated 'm' a-singie stroke. shapeot the 1m die mu bevobviousandneed not beillusiratrid. ,In this r figure the fingers allface the samewayandflxey V are shown thus'to illustrate-fins ivhich' votcou'rs'e 'is aisopresent when thereare only two fingers." Fig.10'ii1ustratesa mar fingered plung- ,er w ith'rthe fingers symmetricallyarranged, tworol them facing toward the. left right; the advantageese'in being the female die is of coursemaiidein two it .1

' {-fhalves as 'will beob'vious the Get! given in connectionwith the it,the being defined by .a wall which 7 store part or :its inward frornoneend is iwe ed ss i p fled n eim halves n, mbi

.plete 1emaiediehavmg" i e n t m fihfifie mri endf e I se licompie fieta ltbo jtheibpre i part or such-dimensions mam V "in v d' n l mist. ntlmdi e spaoedfroin the wens arttiiebor es'eveiywnie .c p a he' ish sl 7Instead of placing thefingrs all one line as inFigs. 10 and 11, they maybe grou'pedas in I Fig. 12, one pair above the other, or they'mightgrouped as in Fig. 13, all facing toward a common center. Thesevariationsore spoken of vtq' illus-i tmte that there'is considerab leptitnde'prao- 'r -iwhatIclaimisz" V H l. A: die" having a bore extendingentirely and which for .there- 7 maining part of itslength i's u-shaped-in CI'OBS-T halves wmen reass mbled position form a; com-V7 '9 pietefemale die l iavi'ng a bore, as specified in 3. A die c m r sin emit.

m t eid ei vin i boressueh as specified-insight 1*.

halves whivzh *assern '1. Aset of di'es on'e ms eiwmglsmiimeemer mreomisim Q a; m mw s w in the orthe arse-past me ofisfich' fl m V v "thei i i tlfaight of ime" i Y

